Disclaimer : Rurouni Kenshin is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shonen Jump, Viz, and Sony Productions.

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 18 : A Party

"Wow Himura! You're a real photogenic guy!" Misao exclaimed as she scanned through the pictures. At the moment, Sanosuke, Soujiro, Kaoru, Kenshin, and Misao were together at Sano's apartment gathered in the living room. The four of them had returned from camp the other day and were currently browsing through the pictures that they had taken.

"Ooh, check this picture out Kaoru-san!" the girl exclaimed as she passed a photograph over to Kaoru who was sitting next to her on the couch.

Kaoru carefully took hold of the picture and noticed that it was a close-up of Kenshin. He was in a kendo stance with his bokken poised slightly over his head. His lavender eyes were narrowed in concentration as they seemed to study the opponent in front of him. Seeing the picture, the young woman couldn't help but glance over at Kenshin. He was sitting in one of the wooden chairs to the side of her with his line of vision directed towards the window and his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Seeing him, she remembered the soft kiss that he had given her that night at camp. Kaoru was shocked at herself because she had accepted his lips so willingly. Since that incident, her face would turn red with embarrassment whenever she saw him. Fortunately for her, Kenshin treated her no differently than before. From time to time however, that kiss would pop into her head and her face would glow. The place where Kenshin had kissed her would become hot as if it were burned. And actually that happened quite often to the young woman's dismay.

"What do you think of the picture, Kaoru-san?" Misao's voice interrupted Kaoru's thoughts and the blue-eyed woman widened her eyes realizing that she had completely forgotten about everyone around her.

"Huh? . . it . . came out . . re . .really good," Kaoru stuttered feeling a bit flustered. Luckily, Misao seemed to be concentrating on the picture and did not notice the expression on her face. Regaining her senses, the girl quickly put the picture back down in the pile on the coffee table.

"Ooh!" Misao beamed as she passed another picture over to Kaoru in excitement. "You look great in this picture!"

Hearing Misao's comment, Kenshin unconsciously turned around and caught a glimpse of the picture that Kaoru held in her hand. He couldn't make out much because of his distance, but he could tell that it was one of her in her gi and hakama. The red-haired man also noticed the small smile that flitted by her face that mere second while she looked at it.

"Let me see the picture, jou-chan," Sano asked as he leaned over Kaoru's shoulder to look at the photo. The spiky-haired man's voice broke Kenshin out of his momentary stupor and the man quickly turned back to face the window once more.

"For once I'd have to agree with the weasel girl. You look nice there." A small, tender grin appeared on the man's face as he complimented her. Kaoru turned around to tell him thank you when she realized for the first time how close his face was to hers. They were only a few mere inches apart. The girl's cheeks instantly reddened and she looked down quickly.

"Umm . . thank you, sir."

Seeing her reaction, Sano's grin only grew wider. She looked so cute when she was embarrassed like that.

"Hey rooster-head, can you grab me a drink?" Misao asked as she continued to study the pictures.

Che! The other man stood back up and muttered something under his breath about weasels being lazy, but made his way to the kitchen nevertheless.

"Thanks rooster-head!" the girl shouted from behind.

"Since you're already up, could you get me a drink too, Sagara-san?" A polite smile appeared on Soujiro's face as he looked over at the other. "And I'm sure Kamiya-san and Himura-san would like some, too."

"Fine."

Soujiro grinned with satisfaction as he looked back down at the photographs in his hand. As he flipped through them, he saw one of Kanryuu. Seeing his picture made the boy remember something important. He lifted his head up casually as he looked over at Kenshin. "Himura-san, what are you going to do about Takeda-san's birthday party? I heard it was going to be tomorrow at his house."

When Soujiro mentioned Kanryuu's name, Kaoru suddenly dropped all the pictures that were in her hand onto the ground. Alarmed, the three of them looked at her.

"Kaoru-san?" Misao asked with worry and confusion swirling in her green eyes.

The blue-eyed woman flinched when she heard Misao's call and instantly started picking up the pictures one by one. While she was doing this, Kenshin couldn't help but notice how her hands were trembling slightly and how her eyes seemed to grow dull.

"Kamiya-san, let me help," Soujiro exclaimed as he squat down and helped gather the rest of the pictures. He realized he had made a mistake when he had mentioned the other's name. He had forgotten that Kaoru didn't hold any good feelings towards Kanryuu, who had always bothered her since her arrival.

But . .how could Kamiya-san react like this when she just hears his name? Did something happen?, Soujiro wondered to himself. As he picked up the last picture, the young man looked up at Kaoru and saw how pale her complexion was at the moment. He remembered a while back when there was that unpleasant incident in the cafeteria with Kanryuu and Kaede, but Kaoru had remained so calm throughout the entire ordeal. But now .. she looks frightened by just hearing his name. Suspicion seemed to cloud his dark blue eyes as he watched her sit back down on the couch.

What happened to you, Kamiya-san?

"Well, it's not like we're not obligated to go." A voice from the side broke Soujiro from his thoughts. He looked over and saw that Sano had come out of the kitchen with a tray full of drinks.

The spiky-haired man had a deep frown on his face from the mention of Kanryuu. Sano had developed a hatred for him since that night at the club when he had mistreated Kaoru. He definitely had no desire to see him again, especially not to celebrate some damn birthday with him. The man also thought that it would be good for Kaoru if they didn't attend.

"Yeah, I don't like that Kanryuu guy anyway," Misao interjected as she put away the pictures with a grimace on her lips. She didn't know exactly why Kaoru would have misgivings about Kanryuu, but it was certain that Misao thought he was a creep. There was a time when Kanryuu had come to visit Himura's house and had tried to, in layman's terms, cop a feel on her. Luckily, her Aoshi-sama was there to stop it.

"Yeah . . so let's not go. Right, Kenshin?" Sano looked over at his friend who had remained quiet the entire time.

". . . ." The other didn't seem to respond and a resulting heavy silence blanketed the small room.

Sanosuke gruffly sighed as he set down the drinks on the table and sat next to Kaoru.

Attempting to lighten the mood, he asked, "Let me see the pictures, jou-chan." Kaoru passed the photographs to him and Sanosuke started to browse through them.

As he flipped through the pictures, he found his eyes instantly attracted to the photos with Kaoru in them. A broad smile emerged from his lips as he looked at the girl's image. That day at camp, she seemed so vibrant and full of life. Something that was probably more of how she was before she had met them. And seeing her like that, he promised himself that he would always protect that smile of hers.

"What's with that goofy smile on your face, rooster-head? Are you thinking perverted thoughts about Kaoru-san?" Misao accused.

Sanosuke widened his eyes as he looked up at her, befuddled by the brazen question. "I . ." His face started turning red and he put down the pictures. He dared to dart a glance at Kaoru and found to his relief that she seemed to be lost in her own world. "O-of course not, weasel girl!" he exclaimed as he motioned his arms in protest frantically.

Misao chuckled as she waved the matter off. "I was just playing with you. Don't act so serious." The jade-eyed girl turned to Kaoru and nudged her a bit in the side with her elbow. "Don't you think Sano is acting a bit suspicious?" she whispered behind her hand.

However, Kaoru didn't hear what was said and found her thoughts drifting towards tomorrow's plans for attending the birthday party. A familiar chilling voice seemed to penetrate her thoughts.

"I warned you. Did you forget already? You'll get hurt if you think I'm joking around. Remember that . . . doll."

The more she tried to overlook those words and Kanryuu's cold and intense dark eyes that day, the more they become embossed into her mind.

The next day

"Take those looks off your faces, Himura-san and Sagara-san. We're here to celebrate Takeda-san's birthday, but you look like you're going to some funeral. If you were going to be like this, we shouldn't have come here from the start," Soujiro exclaimed fretfully as he suddenly stopped and looked at Kenshin and Sanosuke. The spiky-haired man had a grimace on his face while the other had an ambivalent expression. The blue-eyed boy shook his head sadly, they were worse than he was at times.

Soujiro looked behind the two and noticed that Kaoru was trailing behind the three of them. "Kamiya-san, are you okay?" he asked aloud as he paused in his steps. Sanosuke and Kenshin were brooding in their own worlds, so they continued to go on ahead.

At the time, Kaoru was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't hear Soujiro calling her. With each step she took, anxiety seemed to gnaw at her insides. She appeared completely dismal.

"Kamiya-san?" Soujiro walked up to her and lightly put his hand over her shoulder.

Feeling the sudden touch, the young woman jerked up her head with alarm. She let out a sigh of relief mixed with embarrassment when she realized that it was only Soujiro.

The boy furrowed his brows when he noticed how uncomfortable she looked. "Kamiya-san, I've been calling out to you for a couple of times already. Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, sir. I'm sorry I didn't hear you," she replied meekly. Get a grip, Kaoru, she told herself as she pushed herself to continue along.

Soujiro sighed sadly as he heard her response. There was definitely something wrong with her, but it hurt that she didn't trust him enough to tell him what was wrong with her. He watched her as she started walking faster to catch up with the other two.

DING DONG

The butler opened the door and quickly bowed. "Master Himura, Master Sagara, and Master Seta it's a pleasure having you come to our young master's birthday. You can find Master Takeda in the den with the others."

The three of them nodded quietly and went inside. Kaoru stood at the door, a bit hesitant about stepping in before the butler motioned for her to go inside.

Realizing that there was no choice, she took a step through the door. "Thank you," she said politely.

As Kaoru walked in, she could help but feel a sense of amazement at the sheer elegance of the Takeda mansion. The structure was lavished with the antique furniture and the most ornate kinds of decorations. It was not as large as Kenshin's estate, but the place itself was still formidable. As she followed the three of them further into the house, the familiar smell of liquor and nicotine began to penetrate her nostrils

"Hey! You guys are a little late!" When the four of them had stepped into the den, Kanryuu greeted them joyfully as he raised a full glass of hard liquor.

Sanosuke's frown instantly deepened and he narrowed his cinnamon-brown eyes at the sight of the man. Seeing Sano's expression, Soujiro quickly jabbed him in the side.

"Don't cause trouble, Sagara-san," Soujiro whispered heatedly as Kanryuu approached them.

"Thanks for coming." Kanryuu shifted his eyes onto Kenshin.

Kaoru, who was standing behind Kenshin, couldn't bring herself to look up at the other man. For some reason, a cold shiver would always go up her spine whenever she saw him, whenever she was near him. At that moment, she felt someone put his arm around her shoulders. The girl widened her eyes and looked over at whom the arm belonged.

It was Kenshin.

However, he didn't look at her and only pulled her closer to him.

Kanryuu smirked when he saw the gesture. "I see Kamiya is here, too. I thought you wouldn't be coming," he stated with a cocky grin as he steadied his eyes on the girl.

Kenshin narrowed his eyes. "There's no reason why she can't come."

The other man's grin widened as he crossed his arms and let a hoarse chuckle escape. "You're right, after all . . she's just a shadow that follows you around everywhere."

"At least she's more reliable than your idiotic subordinate that follows you around mindlessly," the red-haired man retorted in a steady voice.

Kanryuu's grin faltered at those words and his face slowly started to heat up with anger. A psychological warfare seemed to have taken place between Kanryuu and Kenshin for a short period of time. During that time, Kaoru felt as though she was being suffocated by the heavy tension between the two of them and wished that she could escape from the situation.

"Let's go, Himura-san," Soujiro interjected.

Soujiro's voice seemed to successfully break the cold atmosphere between the two of them. A mocking smile reappeared on Kanryuu's face. "Yeah .. everyone was waiting for you guys to come. You don't want to disappoint them, do you?" The dark-haired man glanced over at Kaoru from behind his glasses and a malicious glint seemed to pass through his eyes before he turned around and left. Kenshin noticed it and immediately tightened his hold on Kaoru's shoulder.

"Don't leave my side."

With surprise, Kaoru looked up at Kenshin's face. He was currently staring at Kanryuu's back as the man was walking away from them. For some reason, with him by her side, . . she felt . . .safe.

"Damn, I can't stand that guy!" Sanosuke muttered roughly underneath his breath when the spectacled man was well away from hearing range.

Soujiro agreed nonverbally, he too had caught that glint in the other's dark eyes. "Well, as long as Himura-san is by Kamiya-san's side . . Takeda-san won't try anything." The boy narrowed his blue eyes as he looked over at the man who was at the far corner with his companion Kaede.

After a few long minutes of standing there, the four of them finally started to move around and mingle with the other people at the party. Kenshin walked towards the corner with Kaoru close by him and sat down in one of the chairs. The lavender-eyed man had felt something unusual when he saw the way Kanryuu was looking at Kaoru. He couldn't quite place a finger on what the feeling was, but he didn't like it.

Kaoru stood behind Kenshin throughout the whole party. As she glanced down at him, she remembered the words that he had uttered to her.

"Don't leave my side."

Those few words . . for some reason they seemed rather noble. She shook her head as she looked around the room. Sanosuke and Soujiro were off in different corners of the room having a conversation with the many people surrounding them. They looked like they were having fun.

"Have a drink, sir." A waiter had come up to the both of them and had a tray of beverages. At the waiter's offer, Kenshin picked up a glass of wine. As the waiter was about to hand another glass of wine to Kaoru, Kenshin stopped him and instead reached for the glass of orange juice.

"Thank you." Kaoru felt marginally relieved when the man had passed her the juice instead. She took a sip of it and a small ghost of a smile appeared on her face. She shouldn't have worried so much about coming here in the first place.

From across the room, a dark-haired man watched as Kaoru drank the orange juice. He nodded towards the waiter and the waiter nodded back signaling that the task had been done.

Welcome. Kamiya Kaoru.

A malevolent smirk appeared on Kanryuu's face as he lifted the glass of whiskey towards his mouth.

"Hey Kenshin! Long time no see!! Where have you been lately? I haven't seen you at the club like usual. What happened?" A male from the other side of the room spotted Kenshin and came towards him. Followed by that person, a mass number of people began surrounding the red head. Because of this, Kaoru was pushed off to the side. She stood there uncomfortably as she saw all the people around Kenshin and brought the drink up to her mouth again.

At that moment, someone bumped into her.

"Uh!" Kaoru yelped.

"I'm sorry. Oh no .. look what happened!" The wine in the other person's hand had accidentally poured onto Kaoru's clothes. The person quickly took out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and began wiping her off.

The young woman looked startled as she tried to pull away. "It's okay . . I'll clean it up myself."

The other man looked up with widened eyes. "No . . no. It's my fault." He continued to recklessly try to wipe off the stains, but to no avail. The man frowned as he looked at the state of her clothes. "This isn't going to help. I think you'll have to wash it." He grabbed her wrist and began dragging her to the staircase. "I'll get you a change of clothes. Don't worry."

Kaoru looked behind her and saw Kenshin besieged by other people at the party. I'll only be gone for a minute. It should be okay.

"I'm really sorry," the person continued to apologize as he led her up the spiraling staircase.

"No . .it's all right." Kaoru began to feel a bit sorry for the person for he seemed to express his regret so fervently.

When they reached the top of the stairs, they went down a twisting hallway. "It's in here." The other pointed to the door to the far end of the maze-like hall. Kaoru nodded and stepped into the room. The pitch black darkness and silence seemed to engulf her as she went inside. She couldn't even take a step forward because it was almost impossible to distinguish anything in front of her.

She turned around and called out to the person on the other side. "Where's the swit - -"

BANG

The door slammed shut and the click of the lock was heard. Kaoru widened her blue eyes as she grabbed at the doorknob in shock. She started to jiggle the doorknob thinking that it might open, but it didn't. Someone had locked it from the outside. Her palms started to get wet and her fingertips were as cold as ice from the nervousness. Something's wrong, she warned herself. Fear and anxiety began to claw at her senses as she began to bang on the door.

CLICK

Kaoru turned around in surprise. There was someone else besides her in the room. A small flame from the single lamp flickered faintly at the far-end of the bedroom started to grow brighter. Kaoru's eyes adjusted to the light and she saw the outlines of another other person's face. When she realized who it was, her heart sunk down in dread and a feeling of nausea overcame her.

"You bitch! I'm warning you . . it'll be best if you stick next to Kenshin when you go anywhere from now on. Because if you don't . . . if you don't," he repeated. "You don't know what I'll do to you."

Kaoru's heart began to thump loudly against her chest as she was reminded of what he had told her that time in the stairwell at school. She took a step back.

The man smirked. "I've warned you a couple of times, didn't I?"

That voice that had always grated on her nerves flowed out of his mouth and echoed inside the confines of the room. A chill rose up Kaoru's spine. Everything that she had feared seemed to come crashing down on her. Her hand blindly reached behind her, hoping to grasp some type of object to defend herself with, but alas there was nothing, but the cold, hard wall.

As the light from the lamp grew brighter, Kanryuu's form began to appear much more clearly. He smiled calmly towards the girl. Next to him was Kaede with a malicious grin decorating her thin lips. However, they weren't the only two in there. As the flames grew, she realized that there were quite a lot of people, maybe four or five more. All of them were looking at her with the same kind of intense eyes and faint smiles.

"The medicine should take effect about now . ." Kanryuu glanced at his watch and smiled as he stared in attentiveness at Kaoru.

Kaoru furrowed her brows as she wondered what he was saying. But as the next few seconds elapsed, she understood with horror what it was that he meant. Blood seemed to leave her face and all the muscles in her body began to give way when the medicine started to work its effects. Realizing too late what was going to happen, she weakly turned towards the door and cried out.

"Help!! Hel - - "

She leaned against the tightly closed door, not even having the strength left to stand up or talk anymore. As Kanryuu nodded his head to the two people next to him, they went towards Kaoru and pulled her towards him.

Kaoru was held between the two men's arms as she was dragged over to the spectacled man.

"Don't worry, doll. You won't be able to move you body for just a while." He touched her cheek gently before he ordered the others to put a gag around her mouth.

"Sano-kun, what are you doing tomorrow n - -"

"Sano!!"

"Huh?" Sanosuke was brought out of his momentary daze when the woman next to him began pulling on his arm playfully. "Eh .. what did you say?"

"I asked if you were free tomorrow night . ." The woman smiled flirtatiously as she bat her eyelashes at the other man.

"I'm gonna be busy . ."

"What about the day after tomorrow?"

"No."

"What about next weekend?"

Sano passively turned towards her and looked at her seriously. "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in seeing anyone right now."

After hearing the rejection the woman turned around and left. Sano sighed as he looked around at the other people at the party. He was feeling a bit tired from all the socializing and wanted to just get away from there. He then scanned the room, wondering how the others were faring. He turned his head and saw Soujiro in the far corner smiling while talking to Shishio and Yumi. Sano shook his head. Some things would never change.

He looked elsewhere and then noticed a bush of red-hair near the corner of the room. Sano strained his neck a bit to get a better view of his friend. There was a clear frown on Kenshin's face as he tried to push away the girls who were flirting with him. It seemed as though Kenshin disliked being there as much as he did himself. Sanosuke then looked around the area where Kenshin was.

Where's jou-chan?, he wondered. She's supposed to be next to him.

He then felt a light touch on his shoulders. He looked down and saw that it was another girl from his class "Eh. Sano-kun, what are you looking at?"

"Umm .. it's nothing," he said as he shrugged off the uncomfortable feeling. He felt strange, but he had not other choice but to start another conversation with the girls around him.

A feeling of irritation began to pervade Kenshin's mind as he sat there with all the people surrounding him. All of their talking and bickering was beginning to hurt his ears. Wondering if Kaoru was okay, he turned around and looked for her. His pupils which were at first slowly scanning the room at first suddenly began to move rapidly with alarm. Where was she? Didn't he tell her to stay beside him? He then looked towards Sanosuke and Soujiro, thinking that maybe she went to talk to them. However, he didn't see her there either.

Worry and a bit of fear began to clog his senses. He got up and pushed aside the people that were crowding him and looked around the room once more. Confusion and anxiety was written all over face.

At that moment, Sanosuke had lifted his head while he was half-listening to what the girl next to him was saying. He noticed Kenshin standing in the middle of the room with a bewildered expression on his visage.

A feeling of apprehension swirled in Sano's eyes as he disregarded the people around him and walked towards Kenshin. The lavender-eyed man didn't seem to notice that Sano's presence.

"What's wrong? What happened?" the brown-haired man asked.

Only at that moment when the other spoke did Kenshin realize that Sanosuke was beside him. "I . . I don't see Kaoru," Kenshin answered in a low voice.

Blood instantly drained from Sano's face. "Wh-what?!?! What . . what are you talking about?! What do you mean you don't see jou-chan?" he questioned frantically. The tips of his fingers tingled with unease as he heard the news.

From the other end of the room, Soujiro noticed Kenshin and Sanosuke who were standing around with worried looks on their faces. Wondering what was wrong, he quickly made his way to them. "What happened? Shouldn't Kamiya-san be with you?" He searched their eyes and saw the grave expressions on their faces.

"She's not here . ." Sano responded.

"What! Kamiya-san is not here?" Soujiro looked at them in shock. "How can this be?"

As Kenshin looked around, he realized that there was another person absent from the room. He clenched his fists until his knuckles became pale.

"Kanryuu . . . that bastard."

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- To be continued

Author's Notes :

Please leave a review and tell me what you think! I might hold off on writing the next chapter so I can get another chapter out for "A Memory Forgotten." I've really put that fic on hold for long enough. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for continuing to read it.

A note about the medicine:

It leaves the patient's muscles paralyzed for an hour or so, though he/she remains fully awake and aware of what is going on around him/her.

Special thanks to Ryoga, flaming-amber, HitokiriSky, Jr., Crazyperson, De Lazy Lime, Eternal-Senshi-S, saotome, cutie-chan-XD3, Kaoru4, Jade Catseye, erica6060, chibi frog, tintin-chan, rkfan246, cyjj, psychotic-catster, stranger, Nakashima-Michiyo, Kiichi Dazai, Oni Tokage, samuraiduck27, Vejitagurl, Chibi Kiki, Spike-Faye, Reignashii, MizzLee, S3R3nity, rain angst, Tenshi-no-Hana-chan, kimi.the.water.spirit, ariel, kodaku, nobody, Kitsune Kenshin, AmayaSaria, kik-ting, RKfan86, Vic'chonn, Coodle, BabyKaoru-sama, Angel of loneliness, Raeyn-chan, ;) britty, KKfan4ever, Mz. Amber Eyes, Josh, bonessasan, Dreamer, kiriekun, Lil-Sun-Rie, Ochanoko, misakililin, Katana Midori-Fading Shadow, Falconess106, Silent Fear, KawaiiChica, Sugar-Crazy-Fox, Himura-chan, TimeWarper, Babo-chan, and Boomerang-chan for reviewing! Thanks so much for reviewing!!! I really love reading your comments. ::passes out little sakabatou keychains::